An insight into Africa's threatened sea turtles.

Urgent international efforts are needed to conserve West Africa's sea turtles, with studies showing that the region holds some of the world's most important feeding and nesting sites, many of them under threat. The call is being made by the Secretariat for the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), which has commissioned the first-ever comprehensive report on sea turtles on the Atlantic coast of Africa. The international treaty body, linked to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), is charged with conserving the vast array of migratory animals.

Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of UNEP, says: "The report's findings should spur us all to redouble efforts to protect sea turtles on Africa's Atlantic coast. In the Western Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, populations of sea turtles have been falling dramatically in recent years. This makes these findings in Western Africa doubly significant, given its now undoubted status as a globally important region for sea turtle species."

The report points out that the long beaches of southern Gabon hold the largest number of Leatherback turtles in the world, ahead even of those of French Guiana in South America. A newly discovered population of Loggerheads, which may be the largest in the Atlantic, has also been discovered on Boa Vista, part of the Cape Verde group of islands.

Meanwhile, Mauritania, with significant areas of seagrass beds, is considered to have the most important feeding grounds for Green turtles in West Africa. Olive Ridley turtles, whose numbers are in sharp decline in South America, can be found nesting from Guinea-Bissau all the way to Angola, the report says.

Douglas Hykle, Deputy Executive Secretary of the CMS Secretariat, says: "Africa has been one of the last frontiers in marine turtle research and conservation. This report gives us our first comprehensive picture of how important the Atlantic coast is to sea turtles, while underlining the real threats to the survival of the six species it surveys. It is clear that action at international, regional and national levels is urgently needed if these extraordinary marine animals are to survive and thrive for future generations."

Traditional subsistence use of sea turtles is permitted, but large numbers are being systematically slaughtered for their meat and eggs sold for food beyond what is sustainable. Considerable numbers are dying after becoming entangled in fishing nets. Others are being killed for their shell, which is carved into ornaments or used for making tourist trinkets.

Mr. Hykie adds; "Indeed there appears to be a trade in turtle shell both within and between some countries in the region, often in defiance of international trade laws on endangered species. This phenomenon is not just limited to Africa. Marine turtles are highly migratory species. Satellite tracking and other evidence show us that sea turtles found along the African Atlantic coast have come to feed or breed from as far away as South and North America."

The report, Biogeography and Conservation of Marine Turtles of the Atlantic Coast of Africa, was written and compiled by Jacques Fretey, an internationally renowned sea turtle researcher and expert of the French Committee of IUCN--The World Conservation Union. It draws on observations and studies from a wide range of experts going back over a century to provide a comprehensive review of the status and known nesting sites of the Loggerhead (Caretta caretta), Green (Chelonia mydas), Leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea), Hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata), Kemp's or Atlantic Ridley (Lepidochelys kempii) and Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) turtles in every range State, from Morocco to South Africa.

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On Cape Verde's Boa Vista and Sal islands, a significant reproductive stock of Loggerhead turtles has recently been discovered "that could prove to be one of the largest in the Atlantic". Luis Felipe Lopez, a researcher at the University of the Canaries, Las Palmas, which has been assessing the remarkable find, said: "We have found that the population from Cape Verde is the third largest in the world after Oman's Massirah Island and the United States. In terms of the Atlantic, it is the second largest, after the United States. Our first estimate is that around 2,000 females can be found at Cape Verde with 70 per cent at Boa Vista island."

The report reveals that hunting of turtles here can be dated back possibly as far as 1479, when the French explorer Eustache de la Fosse reported that leprosy was treated locally by a diet of turtle meat and by rubbing the affected areas with turtle blood. King Louis XI, who believed he was suffering from leprosy, dispatched his representative to the Cape Verde Islands to investigate after learning of the 'cure'.

Hunting continues to the present day with one eyewitness, quoted in the report, saying: "Along 30 kilometres of sandy beaches more than 40 Loggerheads were found, mostly heavily injured, with bone and skull fractures, obviously by humans. Marine turtles are constantly slaughtered during egg deposition."

At Banc d'Arguin, a national park in Mauritania, the "marine zone includes an exceptional reserve of seagrasses, making this one of the most significant West African feeding grounds" for the Green turtle.

The report says Guinea-Bissau is one of the richest areas in the whole region for marine turtles but adds: "Captures in the sea or on the ground, as well as poaching of nests, is threatening all age groups."

Ghana has "highly structured" wildlife laws but needs to review their adequacy and enforcement in relation to sea turtles, the report says. "Many females are killed and nests are poached. Other threats to nests include domestic pigs, wild dogs and the theft of sand for construction." However, the report notes that guards have been trained to monitor nesting beaches, and solutions are being sought to protect nests from predators.

Green, Olive Ridley and Leatherback turtles can be found nesting in Benin. But the report raises concern that "systematic killing of females on land and poaching of nests unfortunately continues. Commerce in turtle products is commonplace, particularly the sale of shells to tourists." Leatherback fat is turned into oil, which reputedly has medicinal properties. It is hoped that a tagging project, supported by BIOTOPIC, a Netherlands-based foundation, will lead to the rapid establishment of a national action plan.

Equatorial Guinea and Gabon share Corisco Bay, which possesses exceptional seagrasses. Along with those found in Mauritania and Angola, these areas represent the region's key feeding grounds for the Green turtle. Nesting beaches south of Bioko in Equatorial Guinea are of primary regional importance for the species too.

A trans-border study and wildlife agreement between the two countries is needed to end the exploitation of Green turtles by the local Benga people, the report argues.

One eyewitness, quoted in the report, says: "The inhabitants of the Bay of Corisco have incorporated turtle hunting in their way of life for many generations. Recently, however, turtles have switched from being a source of subsistence protein for local consumption to being a highly quoted market product in great demand in the cities, especially Libreville and Bata. Although some turtles are captured incidentally in fine-mesh fishing nets, most are hunted with special nets, harpoons or underwater guns. There are approximately 50 fishermen around the Bay of Corisco dedicated exclusively to capturing sea turtles."

The report also points out that Gabon's reproductive stock of Leatherbacks is "the second largest in the world, if not the first". Yet, "female Leatherback turtles are systematically killed on the beaches and eggs stolen".

Money is needed for guards, and international funds for monitoring of Leatherback nesting sites are urgently required. Similar work should also be carried out for the Green, Olive Ridley and Hawksbill turtles in Gabon.

The island of Sao Tome and Principe has the greatest diversity of sea turtles in the whole region, with males, females and young Green, Olive Ridley, Hawksbill and Leatherback turtles in its coastal waters. The same species also nest on its beaches. The European Union-funded "Tato project" has helped dramatically reduce consumption of turtle meat and eggs, but needs longer-term financing to remain viable. Substitutes are starting to replace turtle shell products.

Priorities for the Species

The report makes a series of recommendations to save and protect five of the six species of sea turtles studied on Africa's Atlantic coast:

Loggerhead: Conservation priorities for the species should focus on nesting sites in Cape Verde and sub-adult turtles in the waters around the Azores, the Archipelago of Madeira, the Canary Islands and Cape Verde.

Green: Green turtles grow and develop throughout the waters off northwest Africa, Guinea and in the south-central Atlantic Ocean. Special attention should be given to these areas, which are often threatened by pollution. Seagrass areas in Mauritania, Senegal and Corisco Bay in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon need mapping and monitoring urgently to assess their health. "It is imperative that these internationally important feeding grounds be included in national and trans-border marine reserves."

Olive Ridley: "Given the dramatic decline of Olive Ridley in the Western Atlantic, all African nesting sites should be considered to be priority areas, with particular attention given to beaches in the Bijagos Archipelago, Sierra Leone, Cote d'lvoire, Ghana, southern Cameroon, Sao Tome, Bioko, Angola and possibly Gabon", says the report.

Hawksbill: Tough new laws and better customs searches are needed in Cape Verde and Sao Tome and Principe to crack down on the turtle-shell craft industry. Countries that have not ratified the Convention on Migratory Species and the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species, also administered by UNEP, are urged to do so. "The top priority for conservation of the species is Bioko Island in Equatorial Guinea and Sao Tome and Principe, where the species appears to nest regularly", says the report.

Leatherback: "With the dramatic fall in populations of the species in the Pacific Ocean, one of the key priorities must obviously focus on Gabon and the Congo." The report recommends that a trans-border marine park joining Mayumba and Conkouati, staffed with anti-poaching teams, be set up.